Rachel Reeves says 'Israel has the right to defend itself'; Photo: PAUL ELLIS/AFP
People must believe Hamas is a terrorist if they want to stay in the Labor Party, Rachel Reeves said.
Speaking in Liverpool, where the party is meeting for its annual conference, Shadow The chancellor said she had «no time» for Labor Party members to support the Palestinian cause following the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel.
Her comments came a day after Hamas terrorists, who have killed hundreds of civilians, were applauded at a far-left event on the sidelines of the party's conference in Liverpool.
Activists carrying Palestinian flags were seen outside the Labor Party conference venue, and the Campaign Palestinian Solidarity, which organized a rally outside the Israeli embassy on Monday evening, has a booth inside the convention center.
Ms Reeves was asked: On Times Radio, if you want to be in the Labor Party, you have to take the view that Hamas are clearly terrorists and Israel has a right to defend itself.
She replied: “Well, yes. Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has the right to exist.
“Israel was attacked by terrorists. He has every right to defend himself, recover the hostages and protect his citizens.
“I am one of the vice-chairs of the Friends of the Labor Party of Israel and I am deeply concerned by the scenes we saw last year. the last few days.
“Women and children, small babies, kidnapped by terrorists. This is terrible, and Israel has every right to defend itself in these circumstances.»
When asked if in the Labor Party people attending the event supporting the Palestinian cause, she replied: «I don't have time for that.»
“I want to see a Palestinian state existing alongside a safe and secure state. Israel, and what upsets me so much is that the actions of Hamas over the last few days have set back the cause of peace, which I so desperately want to see in the Middle East and which people throughout the Labor Party desperately want to see in the Middle East.
“But terrorism is not the way to get there, and I am shocked by what we saw.”
On Sunday, more than 100 people attended a far-left event as part of The World Transformed, a conference organized by Momentum in 2016 and taking place in parallel with the Labor Party meeting.
They heard Yasmine Elsuda, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement party, tell the audience that the Palestinians who died in the conflict were “martyrs.”
“I am honored to speak at such a historic moment, especially in my life, in our struggle,” she said.
“Yesterday, more than 230 of our brothers and sisters… were martyred at the hands of the Zionist entity.
“The current Zionist government is unequivocally calling for genocide, another Nakba. Despite this, our Palestinian resistance has once again taken the failed Zionist organization by surprise and said enough is enough.»
Starmer refuses to suspend an MP.
On Sunday, Sir Keir Starmer refused to suspend an MP who was photographed with the PSC after he announced plans to protest outside the Israeli Embassy.
Greg Hands, the Conservative party chairman, wrote to his Labor Party colleague to demand that Apsana Begum, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, be suspended your whip.
However, a spokesman for the Labor Party leader said Ms Begum would not face any disciplinary action as the PSC was not a banned organisation.
The refusal came despite Sir Keir vowed to clean up created the party after the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that Jewish people had been unlawfully persecuted under his far-left predecessor Corbyn.
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